Hacker News Reader

Comment by dpatru | Hacker News Reader

> Because I don't think people should be upset about their privacy when they know a company like Facebook already knows everything about you.

The fact that a private company like Facebook knows a lot about you is not a problem as long as the company has a privacy policy and can be held accountable. The problem specifically is government access to the data. Unlike governments, companies like Facebook have never morphed into tyrannies. Facebook does not tax people, it does not prosecute, it does not put people in prison or fine them, it does not drone people, it does not go to war. Unlike Edward Snowden, an ex-Facebook employee who reveals Facebook's secret illegal activities does not have to fear for his life and take refuge in Russia.

View on HN

Facebook knowing a lot about you is a problem.

It is just an entirely separate problem that is only superficially similar to the problem of the government knowing a lot about you.

I think it's a bit more than superficially related - in a lot of cases, the only reason the government knows what it does about you is because you turned your personal information into bits and sent it to Facebook.

Except for when they do it without you even knowing your sending information to them. If you haven't heard of shadow profiles, then now is the time to learn about them.

And don't get me wrong, I understand that I can do stuff to stop these things, but I don't see why I should have to, quite frankly.

The point is that even if I have never visited Facebook, they more than likely know a lot about me already, unless explicitly going out of my way to stop it.

> shadow profiles

Which exist only due to the exact reason I described.

> The point is that even if I have never visited Facebook, they more than likely know a lot about me already, unless explicitly going out of my way to stop it.

Well, that's not what I was addressing. "Going out of your way to stop it" is simply becoming educated about what exactly it is we're doing when we use the Internet and societal institutions. Being prudent about what we enter into a form(either real or virtual) is key.

> Which exist only due to the exact reason I described. I guess I presumed that when you said "you turned your personal information into bits and sent it to Facebook" you meant explicitly.

> Being prudent about what we enter into a form(either real or virtual) is key I agree. But then again, when I need to go out of my way to make sure that all of those little 'Like' icons aren't telling Facebook the sites that I visited, just because my browser loaded them, I think that's a line. Because where you are being explicit about the form being real or virtual, you also should be explicit about who or what is 'entering' data into that form... and even what that form looks like (because a lot of the time, it's just a lot of parameters attached to an image request).

So it's the victim's fault? I don't understand what the point of your statement is.

When bitching about social media enterprises knowing too much about our lives, yes.

as long as the company has a privacy policy and can be held accountable

Is there any evidence that privacy policies 1) are actually followed and 2) enable any accountability whatsoever and 3) are anything other than a meaningless token gesture?

> Unlike governments, companies like Facebook have never morphed into tyrannies.

I largely agree with your overall point, but this particular sub-point could do with a bit of modification in light of the history of company towns/stores. Unless you were including a division between social-network companies and the extractive industries in which companies towns were frequently found.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com